Swarm style attacks have been used successfully throughout history by guerrilla and insurgent forces to disrupt larger and better equipped adversaries. In a swarm attack insurgent forces often rely on stealth, dispersion, and concealment to get within close range of their target and then attack from many directions. Modern urban battlefield environments contribute to the effectiveness of swarm attacks as attackers attempt to blend in with the civilian population to get within close range of their target. Other crowded environments also provide cover for swarm attacks including crowded harbors in which small boats can use disguise and speed to get within close range of larger military ships and overwhelm the larger ship with small weapons fire from many small boats.
Some conventional methods for detecting swarm attacks compare observed behaviors of potential enemy entities against a limited number of predefined templates describing known swarm attack scenarios. A swarm attack is detected when the observed behavior sufficiently matches the expected activity described in one or more of the templates.